I get very attached to my cookware and have a hard time throwing it out when it warps or rusts. Lately, I’ve been putting old cookie sheets on a shelf in the garage and telling myself I’ll eventually throw them away. I haven’t tossed a single pan, but I’ve made a pledge to start buying higher quality, heavy-duty cookware. Which is not to say my old stuff wasn’t well-made. Or was it? Some of it’s so scratched up I can’t tell what brand it is. Oh well.
Given my goal of upgrading my cookware (slowly and expensively), I was pleased to receive an email from Frieling USA asking if I’d like to try one of their pans. Specifically, the Zenker Tannenbaum pan — a German-made pan with molds that let you make stars or Christmas trees.
My pan arrived in the mail about a month ago, but I didn’t give it a test run until after Thanksgiving when I was in more of a Christmas-y mood. Or sort of. I was actually in kind of a bad mood when I took it out the pan and was hoping a little baking therapy would lift my spirits.
For the first round, I used Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix. While Frieling does have a good looking scratch Tannenbaum cookie recipe on their site, I didn’t feel like measuring.
I formed the dough and (messily) glopped it into the pan. Even though I was working fast and not putting a lot of effort into being neat…
…the cookies spread into the molds and out popped as perfect little stars. If you’re not into trees, you could stop here and just decorate the stars.
Success with the stars cheered me up a bit and I continued on with the Christmas trees. The Zenker pans come with skewers so you can skewer the stars together to make trees that won’t fall over. I skipped the skewers and just stacked the cookies so they’d be easier for people to pick off and eat. Watch out for high winds!
Now I was feeling pretty good — not good enough to make royal icing and dye it green, which is one way you can decorate the trees, but good enough to sift some powdered sugar over the trees. Wouldn’t these make a fine addition to the yard of a gingerbread house? I thought mine looked pretty good, but imagine what someone with fine motor skills and patience could do!
If you’d like to order a Tannenbaum pan for yourself or a gift, you can find them on the Frieling Bakeware area of Frieling’s website. They also have some other nice pans. REALLY nice. There’s a glass-bottom springform, a tiered springform, a 13×9 inch springform and a super duper cake layer slicing kit Rose Beranbaum recommends. I’m putting that on my Christmas list right now.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
How awesome are these! I know you will have fun amazing family and friends with your creations! (maybe individual ones on everyone’s plate?)
I’ve done that with cookie cutters but this would be way easier!
I’ve been clicking on the Pillsbury ads off your blog for the last week or two, and finally won 4 boxes of Toaster Strudel. Which probably will not be quiiiet as delicious as the breakfasts I tend to make, but sure can’t be any less healthy=P
So, thanks, I guess!=)
What a cutie…!!
I find it ironic that they’re making Christmas trees out of Stars of David.
I saw the cookie tree on another blog. It’s really adorable and would make a great gift. Can you see it on a buffet table? I didn’t get the decorating gene, though, so I’d probably just sprinkle with 10X sugar like you did and pretend it’s snow.
I saw a bunch of Frieling stuff for sale at Joss & Main, I don’t think they have baking stuff, but they have a lot of cool & adorable cookware at really great deals. Check it out at http://www.jossandmain.com, I just got a very cool saucepan that I love for a screaming deal.
Hi – I was just googling tannenbaum pans and found your site. I purchased a similar pan from Williams Sonoma in 1987 and I just unearthed it from the depths of a deep cabinet. Unfortunately I do not have the recipe that came with the pan – would you be able to share the recipe with me please ?
Thanks so much !
I seem to have lost mine too, but you might be able to find something on http://frieling.com/aboutus/ or perhaps request a recipe via email to go with the pan. Or why not just experiment and try baking a little of your favorite dough in the pan?
I just received these pans for Christmas! Here is the recipe that frieling publishes.
Tannenbaum Cookies The frieling team’s favorite recipe for stars or tannenbaums
Prep Time: 10 min.
Bake Time: 15 min.
Ready in: 30 min.
Yield: 14 star shaped cookies or 2 Tannenbaums
TIP: add ¼ teaspoon cinnamon for the holiday mood
Ingredients:
1 cup of flour (8 oz.)
1/2 cup of softened butter (4 oz.)
1/2 cup sugar (4 oz.)
1/2 teaspoon of grated lemon peel
2 small eggs
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325°F.
1. Generously butter the cookie pans
2. In a medium bowl:
a. Beat the eggs with the sugar
b. Add the grated lemon peel and flour
3. Fill each star with batter
4. Bake for 10-15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are golden
brown. Be careful not to overbake
5. Let the stars cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes, and then carefully remove
them from the pan
6. Garnish to your liking
7. Leave them as stars or stack them on the skewers and create a Tannenbaum
(starting with the largest star, ending with the smallest).